The Trump administration had attempted to invoke a 1798 wartime authority to deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), for a period of 14 days. (Getty Images)
"Accordingly, and for the foregoing reasons, the request to stay the district court’s TROs should be denied."
Their decision could ultimately be kicked to the Supreme Court for further review.
Attorney General Pam Bondi sharply criticized lower court judges for involving themselves in immigration issues, vowing in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" to appeal the case to the Supreme Court for review if necessary.
"This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge, trying to control our entire foreign policy, and he cannot do it," Bondi said of the lower court decisions.
At issue was the Trump administration's authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law, to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, from U.S. soil.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order last weekend blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals, citing the need to better consider the merits of the case — and prompting the administration to file an emergency request for the U.S. appeals court to intervene.
Judges Karen Henderson, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals presided over oral arguments on March 24 after the Trump administration appealed Boasberg's March 15 order. (David Ake/Getty Images)
If the Trump administration's argument is that the restraining order handed down by a lower court judge last week is "an intrusion on the president's war powers, and [that] the courts are paralyzed to do anything, then that's a misreading of precedent," Millett said.
"And it's a misreading of the text of the Alien Enemies Act. The president has to comply with the Constitution and laws like everybody else," she added.
Boasberg had ordered the Trump administration last week to submit more information to the court about its deportation flights as part of a fact-finding hearing to determine whether they knowingly defied his court order that blocked the deportations.
The Justice Department repeatedly declined to do so, even after he offered the opportunity for them to do so under seal, prompting a scathing response from Boasberg last week.
The video depicts suspected members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13. (@nayibbukele via X)
In a reply brief filed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the district court is "continuing to attempt to pry sensitive information from the Government," describing the requests from Boasberg as "intrusive inquiries" and ones they said "could hamper negotiations in the future."
Boasberg wrote that the government had submitted a six-paragraph declaration from a regional ICE office director in Harlingen, Texas, which notified the court that Cabinet secretaries are "actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets [act] privileges over the other facts requested by the Court’s order."
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In a separate district court hearing, Boasberg pressed the government's attorneys, at one point questioning them on their credibility.
"So, your clients had you come argue this but kept you in the dark about it," Boasberg said. "I often tell my clerks before they go out to practice law, that the most valuable thing they have is their reputation and their credibility. I would ask that your team retain that lesson."
"The government isn’t being forthcoming… but I will get to the bottom of if they complied with my order and who violated the order, and what the consequences are," Boasberg said during the hearing.
Haley Chi-Sing is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at @haleychising on X.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/appeals-court-blocks-trump-admins-deportation-flights-alien-enemies-act-immigration-suit